Process and apparatus for cleaning drains



May 19, 1970 R. J. GUTRICH PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR CLEANING DRAINS Filed Jan. 22, 1968 19 y. gave/ Z014 United States Patent 3,513,025 PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR CLEANING DRAINS Robert J. Gutrich, 10950 S. Homan Ave.,

Chicago, Ill. 60655 Filed Jan. 22, 1968, Ser. No. 699,734

Int. Cl. B08b 9/06 US. Cl. 134-24 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Process and apparatus for cleaning drains and particularly a kit and components thereof for unplugging the common outlet conduit of a dual sink, comprising a closure plug for frictional engagement within the mouth of the drain opening of one of said sinks, a tubular plug for frictional engagement within the mouth of the drain opening of the second one of said sinks, and conduit means for engagement with said tubular plug and with the sink spigot for directing water under pressure from said spigot to said outlet conduit.

The present invention is particularly directed to the cleaning or unplugging of plugged kitchen and laundry tubs having two basins and can be used with most types of drains regardless of the size of the drain outlet. Means have heretofore been provided for unplugging clogged single sinks by directing water through a conduit from the sink spigot to the drain opening. While the present invention provides improved means for unplugging even single basin sinks and tubs of various kinds, it is particularly adapted for the unplugging of presently conventional dual sinks in a quick and convenient manner without the necessity for use of chemicals, rods, and the like.

Use of the present invention, which may be supplied in the form of a kit, in the average drain four times a year for about five minutes appears to be suificient to relieve the homeowner of frequent clogging of the drains and the aggravation of slow running drains when scraps and grease go down them.

The kit of the present invention can be attached in a simple, quick and convenient manner and is composed of an economical construction and can be used by the average housewife who conventionally employs various kitchen cleaning devices.

The present invention is especially designed for use with kitchen and laundry tubs having two basins wherein the drain opening comprises a stepped fixture having a relatively large mouth adapted to receivea removable forminated basket and a lower relatively shallow mouth of small diameter terminating in a guard which prevents large lumps from going down the drain.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention, its details of construction, arrangement of parts and economies thereof will be apparent from a consideration of the following specification and accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic side elevational view showing the kit of the present invention employed for unplugging the common outlet of a dual sink.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary section on the line 22 of FIG. 1 showing a plug for one of the sinks.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical section of 3,513,025 Patented May 19, 1970 the tubular plug and adapter means therefore secured in the other one of the dual drains of the sink.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view of a portion of the device of FIG. 3 showing its employment without the adapter there shown.

Referring to the drawings, the reference numerals 10 and 10 show dual sinks having their outlet conduits 11 and 11 connected to the common outlet conduit 12, the conduit 12 being the one which eventually becomes clogged and requires unclogging from time to time.

The dual sinks 10-10' are provided with a common water inlet spigot 13 although use of separate spigots is not excluded. In the present instance employing a single spigot there is a valve handle 14 for the introduction of hot Water and a valve handle 15 for introduction of cold Water which can be separately or jointly introduced into spigot 13.

Each of the sinks 10-10 is provided with a drain opening flange or fixture indicated as 16 and 16 and each comprises a relatively wide uppermost mouth portion 17 which normally receives a removable foraminated basket (not shown) and a lower section 18 which is of relatively small diameter and shallow generally about /8 inch in depth. This shallow section is generally closed by a guard 19 to prevent passage therethrough of large chunks or pieces of garbage or other debris.

For operation of the present invention, there is first provided a plug for one of the sinks as for example the plug shown in FIG. 2 and which is shown to be disposed in FIG. 1 in the right-hand sink 10'. This plug is characterized by two components, one being the lower portion 20 of suitable plastic or rubber material prefreably having a serrated peripheral surface as shown so that it may be tightly wedged within the drain portion 18. Connected thereto is the flexible resilient upper plug portion 21 which is adapted to snugly fit into and become wedged in the drain portion 17, the two components being connected together by the manipulating handle 22 whereby the unit may be inserted and withdrawn from the drain 16. It has been found that the dual seal is essential with a stepped drain fixture of the type illustrated in order to prevent dislocation thereof by back pressure resulting from the discharge of water from the spigot 13 through the tubular plug fixture 23 which is inserted in the second drain in this case shown to be inserted in the drain 16 of basin or sink 10.

In the embodiment shown, the tubular plug 23 is provided with a thread 24 at its upper end for detachable con nection thereto of one end of a flexible conduit 25. If desired, ,said one end of conduit 25 could be permanently sealed to the plug 23. The other end of the conduit 25 is provided with adapter means by which it may be detachably connected to the spigot 13. Usually, the connection is made by removing the conventional aerator and screwing the adapter means 26 onto the threads of the spigot 13, but substantially any other form of pressure tight connection may be used.

The plug 23 suitably has secured to the lower end thereof in embracing engagement the flexible plug portion 27 which may be composed of rubber or plastic, and des irably an externally embracing adapter 28 which is also composed of suitable plastic or rubber, and which seats within the lower drain opening portion 18.

The arrangement and construction of the plug portion 27 is such that when water under pressure is delivered through it from spigot 13 it expands under such pressure into tight engagement with the adapter 28, or in the absence of such adapter into tight engagement with the drain opening portion 18 as shown in FIG. 4. It will thus be apparent that the tubular plug shown in FIG. 3 and its associated components can be used with a suitable adapter for the drain openings of various sizes and brought into firm frictional engagement with the pressure of water passing from the spigot 13. Also, the pressure-velocity characteristics of the water passing through the plug 27 may be varied by appropriate sizing of the inner diameter of the plug and/or by use of internal adapters in the tubular plug 23 or the conduit 25.

In operation, when the solid and tubular plugs are associated with the dual sink as shown in FIG. 1, water pressure is turned on and the plugs and associated parts seal themselves in place making it unnecessary for the user to do anything until it is time to turn off the water pressure.

First, hot water is used to soften up the blockage and after a few minutes full pressure is applied to clean the drain completely. Thus, for example, on drains that just need cleaning, one turns on the hot water all the way, leaves it on for about three minutes, and then opens the cold water all the way, and leaves both valves turned wide open for about two more .minutes. At this time, the common outlet 12 should be completely restored to perform properly. Doing this about four times a year should be sufficient to keep an average drain running freely without the necessity for use of other drain cleaning aids or chemicals. On drains that are completely stopped up, one opens the hot water gradually, slowly increases the pressure, as it will take it until the faucet is wide open, then leave only hot water run for about five minutes or more. Then the cold water is opened the same way in a gradual manner as was done with the hot water until they are both wide open and permitted to run for about minutes. The drain shrould then be doing the job it is meant to do.

If blockage is so severe that the drain does not perform properly, a separate source of water can be hooked up from say a garden hose and connected to the side tap 29 leading to the tubular plug component 23, although this is normally closed by the plug 30. When the garden hose is connected to the tap 29, it is turned on last to bring in extra pressure and all faucets are left wide open for about 10 minutes, after which operation the conduit 12 should be clean and free of debris and collected grease.

In use of the device, the double seal provided by the plug member 22 insures initial blocking of the drain 16' so that water pressure may be effectively applied to the system. Once the system starts to drain, water passing through drains 11-12 tends to aspirate the drain 11' whereby the plug is held even more firmly in the drain 16' and prevents entry of air which would tend to defeat the effectiveness of the purging process provided by this invention.

The flexible nipple 27 of FIG. 4 and the flexible adapter nipple 28 of FIG. 3 are exceptional in that they provide (because of the water pressure on the interior surfaces thereof) an effective and highly efficient seal despite the fact that they can have no more than /8 of an inch engagement within the pipe 18. These seals are the essence of success in effective drain cleaning.

Although I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of my invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in the details thereof without departing from its scope as comprehended by the following claims.

I claim:

=1. A kit for unplugging the common outlet conduit of a dual sink, comprising a closure plug having a pair of spaced sealing elements for frictional engagement within spaced portions of the mouth of the drain opening of one of said sinks and for defining a sealing air space therebetween, a tubular plug for frictional engagement within the mouth of the drain opening of the second one of said sinks and having a pair of spaced sealing elements defining a sealing air space therebetween, conduit means extending from said tubular plug to the sink spigot for directing water under pressure from said spigot to said outlet conduit, and threaded connection means on said conduit means for threaded connection with the spigot for establishing a pressure tight connection therewith.

2. The kit of claim 1 wherein said tubular plug includes a side tap for introducing water thereto from a second spigot.

3. The kit of claim 1 wherein said closure plug is to be seated within a stepped drain opening having an enlarged upper mouth portion and a relatively shallow and smaller diameter lower mouth portion terminating in foraminated guard, and comprises a lower plug portion of resilient material of a diameter and length to snugly and frictionally engage in said lower mouth portion, a flexible resilient upper skirt portion having a marginal flange of a diameter to be flexed into snug frictional engagement with the said upper mouth portion, said skirt portion being spaced vertically from said plug portion to trap a pocket of air therebetween in said upper mouth portion of said drain opening, and a hand hold component.

4. The kit of claim 1 wherein said tubular plug comprises a flexible tubular plug and an embracing flexible tubular adapter frictionally disposable within the mouth of said second drain opening, the lower end portions of said adapter being spaced radially from the lower end of said plug and projecting axially beyond the lower end of said plug by a distance no greater than the extent of its insertion into the drain opening, said adapter being expanded radially into tight engagement with the drain opening upon supply of water pressure to said plug and thus to the air space between said plug and adapter.

5. A tubular plug for insertion in a tubular drain opening and having a conduit means for connection to a sink spigot for unplugging the drain outlet, comprising a flexible tubular plug and an embracing flexible tubular adapter snugly and frictionally insertable into the drain opening, the lower end portions of said adapter being spaced radially from the lower end of said plug and projecting axially beyond the lower end of said plug by a distance no greater than the extent of its insertion into the drain opening, said adapter being expanded radially into tight engagement with the drain opening upon supply of Water pressure to said plug and thus to the air space between said plug and adapter.

6. A plug for closing one drain opening of a double drain sink while the other opening is being subjected to operations for unplugging the common drain line of the sink and wherein the one opening is formed with an enlarged upper mouth portion and a relatively shallow and smaller diameter lower mouth portion terminating in a foraminated guard, said plug comprising a lower plug portion of resilient material of a diameter and length to snugly and frictionally engage in said lower mouth portion, a flexible resilient upper skirt portion having a marginal flange of a diameter to be flexed into snug frictional engagement with said upper mouth portion, said skirt portion being spaced vertically from said plug portion to trap a pocket of air therebetween in said upper mouth portion, and a hand hold component for inserting said plug into and for withdrawing it from said drain opening.

7. The method of unplugging the common outlet conduit of a dual sink each having a drain opening, which comprises plugging one of said drain openings, establishing a water tight connection through a conduit from the sink spigot through tubular plug means wedged into the other drain opening, gradually supplying hot water from the spigot to said other drain opening, slowly increasing the water pressure as the drain will take it, running the hot water for a period of time, and then applying full water pressure from the spigot to said other drain opening.

from a separate source is additionally introduced to said tubular plug means when applying full water pressure.

UNITED Acosta. 7 Price. Hiertz. MOelleI' 4 -295 XR Hyde 4 295 FOREIGN PATENTS Australia.

10 MORRIS O. WOLK, Primary Examiner J. T. ZATARGA, Assistant Examiner 2,061,553 11/1936 2,218,050 10/1940 8-. The method of claim 7 wherein a stream of water 2,544,498 3/1951 2,773,619 12/1956 5 3,005,996 10/1961 References Cited STATES PATENTS 133,456 7/1949 Hawley 4255 Gleason 4-256 Jensen 4-204 Brown 4256 German 4-256 Woodward 4-256 15 4256; 134167 US. Cl. X.R. 

